In 2025, fire departments serving Rangeley responded to 55 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
128 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $500 cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023* | 4 | — | |
| 2024 | 65 | — | |
| 2025 | 55 | -15.4% |
* Well below Rangeley's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 6 building fires Rangeley departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 22 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 18.2% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 9.1% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Rangeley mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 14 | 63.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 4 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 4.5% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rangeley sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 672 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 100 | 32.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 64 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 43 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 33 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 32 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 27 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 41.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 25 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 35.9 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Maine cities with population within ±25% of Rangeley. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.